Salford students clean up kitchens... in Second Life

Here on How-Do we've seen pop stars, award ceremonies and even academic qualifications delivered through the virtual reality of Second Life... but students cleaning up dirty kitchens? Surely some mistake.

Apparently not. In what is being hailed as a first of its kind kind of thing in the UK, Salford University environmental health students have been thrown into dirty and dangerous kitchens in the virtual world and told to clean them up.

The idea is not as madcap as the average How-Doer may be inclined to think, as practical training in the field (what? the field of dirty kitchens? Ed) is problematic due to health and safety concerns.

Therefore online training sessions seize the chance to throw the users out of the frying pan and into the virtual fire hazards and contaminated work surfaces, which they then have to identify and confront aggressive virtual restaurant managers with.

Lecturer Lee Griffiths, who helped create the Second Life kitchen, said of the project: “We wanted to create a virtual world where the students are able to put their skills and knowledge to the test in a safe environment, while learning from real-life experts and having fun at the same time.
 
“To our knowledge, this is the first time that a kitchen has been created in Second Life for this purpose.”

You know what Lee, we think you might just be right about that.

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